Rumors have begun to circulate that Elon Musk intends to send a Tesla Model X to the moon as a publicity stunt…. As one can probably surmise, it’s extremely unlikely that the rumor has anything to it. And, for that matter, it probably originated on some satire website somewhere — before some unwitting (poor sap) took it for gospel, as seems to happen pretty regularly. (How many times has false news of some celebrity’s death been started this way?)
Still, many of the comments that Musk makes (particularly those concerning space travel) don’t sound all that believable to many people — and you’ve got to admit that the idea of sending a Model X to the moon to work as a moon-rover almost does sound like a PR stunt that Musk might be interested in (if it was economically feasible, of course) — so I figured it was worth bringing the rumor up here.
Part of the reason for that choice is also that I’m somewhat curious how many of those that follow the Tesla/Elon Musk/SolarCity news cycle find the SpaceX goals to be credible? Are many of Musk’s fans (with regard to the mainstreaming of electric vehicles) on board with his space exploration and colonization goals? Or do they strain credibility to many of those who otherwise admire Musk? Any comments on the subject are appreciated and encouraged.
(Thanks to “ratsbew” on the Tesla Motors Club forum for the subject matter, and for the image in my head of Musk driving around in a Model X on the moon.)
I’m going to take a wild guess “no”.
Considering that Tesla doesn’t pay for much traditional advertising, paying for an extraordinarily-expensive PR stunt like Tesla to the moon doesn’t sound too likely. On the other hand, it does sound like something Musk might secretly want to do just for cool factor.
I’d actually be more interested in seeing some SpaceX stories on here than the endless Tesla-trivia stories… but of course space doesn’t fit the site’s theme.
The Model III would make for a better choice… Smaller payload.
Well, hes space x is about to launch the super heavy next year. 100 metric tonnes of payload. It is designed and capable of interplanetary flight. It could launch a lunar lander with ease… and a model x, well, it would be an easy matter. How much driving that would be done given the terrain, temperature shifts and so forth is another matter. No air to cool the batteries in the sun, and a night bitter cold to -270 degrees. A wild guess is that, no it would not likely stand up to the environment especially well, and though cool to do I htink his engineers are occupied with other matters.
Can’t we send some VW diesels there instead? 😉
Haha, good idea 😀